Reading can be for joy, to be informed, to learn new words, to be transported into imaginary worlds and much more. Reading allows children to wander through their own imagination. It helps them develop language and listening skills in addition to helping them understand. So, Yo Ya Vachuya, which means ‘Come Lets Read’ sessions that we started last year continued in Libraries in Schools (LiS) std 3 and 4 classrooms this year as well. Keeping some of the last year’s learnings in mind, the session schedule, structure and the type of activities were planned for this year. The children during these sessions read independently, sometimes in pairs or in groups and they worked on different reader response activities. But among all the Yo Ya Vachuya sessions, the session that I liked the most is the last session we had before schools closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The session started with remembering all the stories that we read in class. The game ‘I see the light’ had a great response from children making the connection to what the Resource Person (RP) said about the story and then to continue themselves telling it further without giving out the name of the story; until we had so many of them ready to say “I see the light’ with bright eyes! So this is what made it an interesting way to recall and remember all the stories that they heard together throughout the entire year.
At the end of the game, so many memories of different stories, moments of happiness and sadness, filled the classroom. The children wanted to know what’s special today. Why are the stories being recalled? What is today’s story about?
The answer to this was that we were into the Yo Ya Vachuya session of enjoying stories! The children were excited. They had to choose one of their favorite storybooks as a group which was no easy task. They had to re-read or remember it to refresh their memory and decide how they are going to share the story creatively with everyone. So they began, with a buzzing of ideas and discussion.
We did tell the children that we are there to help but some groups were super busy giving us the assurance that they could handle it themselves while others took their time.
This was the time that RPs could take a step back and just observe. We saw how the children were being able to share the stories, some were telling the story like how we do when we read aloud to them with the book facing the listeners, while others were storytelling, building upon some parts and keeping the excitement, quite naturally. It was lovely to see the children work together.
As time passed, we gathered together to look at what they had worked on. With no special lights on, no pulling off curtains, no stage; most children took up the small area near the teacher’s table to perform and share their stories.
One of the groups that came to share the story ‘Six Crows’ by Leo Lionni, used Yoga postures to depict the story which gave us goosebumps and so did the little acts, the twists to the story and the drawings the children made. It was amazing to see them do wonders with the little time they had and this brought an end to our last session of the year. These are the cherishable memories of children whom we saw act so naturally, engage so enthusiastically and share ideas so freely which will remain with us for a long time.
